Okay, I'm having crises with just about every story except this one, so I figure I should work on the one fanfiction that I'm not having a crisis over. Which is this one.

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Nori was walking through the gardens of Imladris. That in itself would not have been odd. Even the fact that she was singing would have been out of place, as Nori loved to sing. No, what was out of place was that Nori was wearing a dress.

She turned a corner to see Aragorn sitting on a bench with his back against a tree, smoking contemplatively. He wore clothes that were simple and of elven make, and once again Nori remarked mentally that he looked quite handsome when he was clean. How unfortunate he's taken, she thought with a sigh.

She sat down on the bench beside him. He turned and looked at her, started out of his slouching position, and looked her up and down. Nori scowled. "You're wearing a dress." He said, surprise tingeing his voice.

"They took away my pants," Nori said sourly. "I think Elrond had them burned."

Aragorn stifled a laugh, and relaxed against the tree "How's Rhone?" he asked, his voice going serious.

"She's still sleeping," Nori said. She shrugged, and slouched back against the tree next to him. "If I hadn't slept for a week, I'd sleep like a log too. Elrond says she'll probably wake up tomorrow." Aragorn noted the dour look on her face when she mentioned Elrond.

"So," she said, pulling a pouch out of her pocket. "What have you been doing this morning?" She pulled a pipe out of the pouch, packed it, and lit it, breathing in with relish. She smiled at Aragorn when she saw him staring at her in amazement. "I picked up some bad habits living with the dwarves.

He shook his head in amusement as he breathed out a cloud of smoke. "Well, not much other than this. Talked with Elladan and Elrohir, filched a snack from the kitchens, then I came out here."

"Sounds positively peaceful," Nori said, the dour look returning.

"Did you get into another row with Elrond?" Aragorn asked.

"Yeah," she sighed. "it went something along the lines of 'give me my pants back.' 'No, you're an elf maid and you should act like one.' 'You don't tell Rhone to act like a lady, and she's practically your daughter.' 'She's human she's different.' 'She acts more like an elf than me!' 'that's the point.'" Nori growled, pulled out a piece of cloth, and began methodically ripping it apart.

Aragorn paused, wondering how to breach the question he wanted to ask. "Why do you dislike being an elf so much?" he finally asked bluntly. She was silent for so long he feared he had angered her, then she began to speak, her voice soft and low.

"People never understand why I dislike being an elf. I certainly don't begrudge them the question, but they never look for an answer. They only want to know why I won't conform, go with the group be normal. No one wants to know why.

Nori smiled to herself, and looked up at Aragorn, her gray eyes steady. "It's funny that I'm being asked this question by the brother of my only friend that actually wanted an answer. You Numenoreans really are something else, huh? Well, I'll tell you what I told Rhone. I don't really hate being an elf. I love being able to hear the trees, to walk through waking memories at night. Hell, I even love the clothes!" she said, gesturing to the dress.

"Then why do you act like you do?"

"Because it's a good way of keeping people from seeing my real reason. I don't hate being an elf. I hate… being immortal." She looked down into her lap. "While I was part of the Last Alliance, before Sauron fell, I had a lot of friends. Some were elves, but many were men. Some of them died in battle, but we expected casualties, so we mourned and we moved on. Then the war was over, and though I kept in touch with them, every time I visited they were older. Before a hundred years had passed, all my friends were dead, and I lived on. Men call our immortality a blessing. I call it a curse. The elves are a lonely people, and they will always be alone, for no race can stand alongside them for ages of this world. I thought on this for hundreds of years, wandering alone, going to the deep south and the far north. I decided I would risk my life for any cause that suited me, just so long as I might no longer have to deal with the pain this life has given me. You could say I was suicidal.

"Then I met Rhone. She accepted me for who I was, not what I should be. I ended up trusting her more than I trust myself, and knowing her better than I know myself. And I know it's the same with her." Nori smiled. "Of course, I adopted the dwarven way of life long ago, almost 200 years ago. Most of the older leaders still remember me. Rhone told you the carefully planned story we worked out together. It is…what we tell people we are not certain are fully worthy of our trust."

"So I had to get stabbed to gain your trust?" Aragorn asked dryly.

Nori blushed. "No. But you braved carrying me, despite Rhone's, ah, adamant warning."

He shrugged. "Things turned all right in the end."

"Yes, I suppose they did."

"You know," Aragorn said. "You really do look beautiful in that dress."

Nori glanced up at him and saw him staring at her, an odd look on his face that Nori recognized all too well. He started to lean forward and she pushed him off the bench roughly. "Now don't you be making those kissy faces at me, Aragorn. Save them for Arwen. She's giving up her immortality to be with you."

"You mean she has a choice?" Aragorn asked.

"She's a half-blood," Nori said patiently, as if he were very slow. "All half-elves have a choice: the life of a mortal, or the life of an elf. Elrond is half-elf. That is why they call him Elrond the Half-elven."

Aragorn seemed to mull this over in his head, and was silent for a while sitting in the grass by the bench. "You know, I really do love her." he said, as if to prove to her that what he had tried to had been a fluke.

"Yeah, I know," Nori said. She patted his shoulder amiably and sat down next to him on the grass. "Hey, don't get yourself all worked up over something that didn't happen. I actually get that a lot, even hen I'm dressed like a man." She shrugged. "Eh, once a female, always a female."

"I still kinda feel stupid about it…" he mumbled.

"Well," she said, clasping him on the shoulder as she got up. "You could make it up to me by introducing me to Elladan." She offered Aragorn a hand up.

Aragorn smiled knowingly, as he levered himself up with Nori's help. "Oh, really? Well then right this way, milady." He said, offering his arm.

"Oh," she said, taking his arm graciously. "A gentleman, are we?"

They walked off, out of the gardens, talking and laughing.

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Hee hee…I just wanted to make sure that no one thought I was going to have them get together. Nori's really not that interested in him. She is just a semi-major flirt that knows when a guy's taken.

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